West Salem’s Taylor Holmquist (7) reacts to being called out after a catch by South Salem’s Alison Gebhardt (3) in a Greater Valley Conference softball game on Tuesday, April 12, 2016, at West Salem High School. West Salem shut out South 8-0 after seven innings and a game delay for rain.
Ty Nicholson even missed the cold, rainy games where it’s unclear if the game will be completed.
Returning to the position he held from 2005-08 as West Salem High School’s softball coach, he has the Titans in first place in the Greater Valley Conference after Tuesday’s rainy 8-0 home win against South Salem.
A talented, experienced West Salem team wasn’t going to let a few rain drops slow it, especially when the players have played softball games in snow or fog so thick they couldn’t see home plate from the pitcher’s rubber.
“We’re used to it,” senior shortstop Tayler Gunesch said.
West Salem (8-5) leads the GVC with a 4-0 record.
The Titans were expected to be pretty good by returning all but two players – headlined by an all-state player in Gunesch – returning from a team that was co-conference champions and state quarterfinalists a year ago.
Brett Traeger does a little of everything at Kennedy
But the team went 4-5 in the nonconference portion of the season as Nicholson tried to learn the players and where to place them.
“We just kept fighting and when it got to league we really pushed ourselves and started picking it up,” said sophomore Nalani Muranaka, who was 2-for-2 with three RBIs.
The influence on the Titans’ game by Nicholson is obvious between the aggressive manner in which the Titans are playing and heads-up play.
“He’s such a student of the game and you got to play well,” South Salem coach Scott McCormick said. “You got to be ready, basically, because you know they’re going to bring it. When he took the job back, that was a bonus for West getting him back. We had some epic battles several years ago when he was coaching.
“He’s good at exposing your flaws, too.”
South Salem’s flaw Tuesday was hitting.
The Saxons managed one hit – a single by Erin Elmore in the seventh inning – and didn’t get a ball out of the infield.
Tim Ganfield’s move to baseball coach at Cascade rare
Part of that, too, was the influence of West Salem sophomore pitcher Taylor Redman, who struck out nine batters and no walks in seven innings.
“I keep telling her don’t be a thrower, be a pitcher because anybody can throw,” Nicholson said. “She has just come 180 degrees in just understanding the game, and I told them at the beginning I want you to learn the game, I don’t want you just to play.”
Gunesch set the tone by hitting a triple to lead off the bottom of the first and scored on a passed ball for a 1-0 lead. Taylor Holmquist’s two-RBI double and Muranaka’s RBI single gave the Titans a 4-0 lead after one inning.
In the second inning, RBI singles by Bailey Holmquist, Paige Amador and Muranaka in the second put West Salem up 8-0.
“It builds a lot of confidence, but the good thing about us is we never psych ourselves out and get too confident,” Redman said. “We always know what we need to do and how to get it done and everything.”
Lulay Football Youth Skills Camp to be held May 7 at Regis
The game was delayed for a few minutes in the sixth inning due to rain.
The rain never really left, but it wasn’t going to keep the Titans from winning their fifth straight game.
“It’s definitely an awesome feeling,” Gunesch said. “We’ve put in work and we worked hard in practice and this is something that we’ve talked about and we want.”
bpoehler@StatesmanJournal.com, (503) 399-6701 or Twitter.com/bpoehler
West Salem 8, South Salem 0
SS 000 000 0-0 1 1
WS 440 000 x-8 7 1
McGrath and Davalos; Redman and Amador. WP- Redman; LP- McGrath. 2B- T. Holmquist; 3B- Gunesch (WS).